


Locker 374

by DominoSatcher



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - School, Gay Male Character, High School, M/M, Male Bonding, Male Friendship, Male Homosexuality, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-20
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-05 21:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/728254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DominoSatcher/pseuds/DominoSatcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being bullied at school by a group of students, Louis' loneliness begins to peak. However, when one of the students from the group of bullies begins to regret what happens, Louis finds himself with a new friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:**
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> i want louis & harry to be in hs & harry be the really popular kid that has a crush on the nerdy kid louis but he doesnt care that hes a nerd & then he askes him out and louis is all shy but says yes

17... 2... 31... Click!

Louis opened the door to his locker and heaved his backpack into the metal cabinet. He had to force the door shut due to the sheer capacity of books he had inside. He sighed and leaned against the lockers and checked the time on the wall clock above the nearby water fountain. A quarter till noon. He had mixed emotions about the whole ’high school lunch’ experience. On one hand, by this point in the day, he was definitely hungry, but on the other hand, he didn't have many friends (minus the "m"). Louis had transferred to this school not that long ago because his mom wanted to dual-enroll him in some college courses since he was so far ahead in his coursework, a program his old school did not offer. This didn't bode well with Louis’ already lackluster social life. Whereas he had few friends before due to his focus on his studies, the demon that is achievement had bitten him in the ass again and took away the few friends he’d managed to make and left him with nothing but a paper that was covered with the first letter of the alphabet.

"There’s that new kid, I heard he’s super smart. Transferred from some school to this one to take the college level classes." Two girls walked past him whispering in a way that they thought was casual. Louis smiled at them, but they increased their pace when they realized he was paying attention.

"Great to meet you, too..." Louis whispered as he stood straight then began to make his way to the cafeteria. It depressed Louis, sometimes. He never learned how to approach other people and make friends because he was too busy being taught about things people insisted would be useful in the real world: laws in classical physics, the structure of sentences in the English language, how to graph a parabola on the appropriately-equipped calculator. It seemed, to him, that making friends would have been a useful tool to learn, but school didn't exactly have an "Introduction to Introductions" class.

"Hey, brainiac," a voice ran out behind Louis.

Louis turned upon reflex to the nickname which he was typically assigned and saw his arch-nemesis in any school he’d ever attended: the group of students with letterman jackets. He groaned quietly as the boys approached him. He knew that in the land of the jocks, bullying the smart kids tended to be almost like a rite of passage for them.

Louis’ fears were confirmed when the head of the pack of students grabbed Louis’ glasses off of his face and held them up in the light looking through the prescription lenses.

"Give those back, please." Louis stood there facing the now blurry head of the pack.

"You hear that, Niall? He told you to give them back so politely!" The sarcastic voice belonged to the blurry student with the buzz cut.

"Yeah, I heard what he said," the blond replied to his friend, "doesn't mean I give a damn though." He continued to look through then lenses at a bit of a distance, then placed the thick black rims onto his face. His eyes quickly crossed, so he took off the glasses and tossed them back at Louis. "This guy’s blind as hell, too!"

Louis barely managed to catch his glasses as they whizzed through the air at him. He quickly put them back on his face and turned to walk away from the group.

"Oy," the blond shouted, "I wasn't done talking yet. Come here."

Louis ignored the request and continued to walk away. He pulled his cardigan around himself as if this gesture offered him some sort of additional protection. He grew tired of this type of treatment early on in school despite being accustomed to the treatment.

"Grab him for me will ya, Harry?" The blond said over his shoulder.

The tall, curly-haired boy to the blond's right stepped forward and began to pursue Louis. When he’d reached the smaller boy, he grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "He said he wasn't done talking yet --" Harry paused as the look of anxiety and panic on the shorter boy’s face registered in his mind. He’d seen his buddies terrorize a lot of people before, but he’d never seen one of their victims look quite so... afflicted.

Louis panicked when he felt the other guy grab onto his shoulder. Usually that sort of treatment was followed by a slam into the lockers or some other physical outburst. As Louis felt himself spiral around, he shut his eyes tight and tensed his neck.

"Are you wincing...?" Harry’s voice was quiet and confused. To Harry, this kid seemed like a stray dog that one would find on the side of the road. The kind of stray that when you went to give it food or pet it, it would wince or pull away in fear. He’d seen kids react all sorts of different ways in the past, but never had he seen a reaction like Louis’.

Louis opened his eyes and saw the look of confusion on his aggressor’s face. He paused for a moment and then loosened his neck when he realized he wasn't going to get struck by this guy. He seemed almost gentle, which was very peculiar compared to Louis’ experiences in the past.

For a moment, they stood there locked in eye contact. Harry’s glowing green emeralds fixed on Louis’ ocean blue disks until the image abruptly swung sharply to the side of his vision and WHAM!

Louis felt a sharp sensation shoot up his spine and radiate across his body. It forced him to clench his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut. His knees buckled, but the surface behind him propped him up as he lost his own support. The metal of the locker felt cool on his back, but didn't soothe the earthquake of pain that shot across his body.

"Like I said, I wasn't done talking." The blond’s voice was now in his ear and Louis could feel the heat from the jock’s breath against the side of his face. "Now you're going to have to do me a favor for being so rude. I think a week’s worth of Algebra should cover it, don't ya think, Harry?"

"Y-yeah..." Harry’s response trailed off as an unfamiliar feeling shot through his chest. When the clang of body against locker rang out to his ears, it sounded different this time. It sounded... wrong. He’d felt a pang in his chest behind his heart. It was as if his body tried to shout out a gut response to the situation which it never had in the past.

"Locker 421, it better be in there by fourth period." The blond let go of Louis’ cardigan, which allowed the boy to slide down to the floor against the lockers. He tossed a pile of papers onto Louis’ lap and then walked away with the group in tow behind him.

Harry looked over his shoulder as the group proceeded to walk away and saw the boy hobble over to a locker and shove the pile of papers into his backpack and rest his head against the open door of Locker #262.

**\-----**

The next day, Louis was walking around with a slight limp to his gait. The impact with the locker had done quite a number to his back, but he tried to hide the change in posture as much as he could manage while waking in between classes. It was embarrassing to know that he was doing math for a student who was a younger grade level than he was because he got bullied by said younger student. Sure, Niall had been a bit bigger than him and a bit taller, but it was just adding insult to injury to know he was younger.

Louis made his way down the hallway, checking around corners before making his way to the 400 block of lockers. He slid an envelope into the slats and walked away as quickly. He made his way to his own locker and noticed the time was around the same time as it was yesterday when he bumped into the other group of students. He hurried to open his locker with intent on shoving his bag in as quickly as possible. However, there was a folded piece of paper sitting on top of his pipe of textbooks. He picked up the paper, shoved it into his pocket, and hurried to put his backpack into the locker. He glanced around the corner, then made his way to the lunchroom.

After getting a slice of pizza and a soda from the small food court in the school (an amenity which his last school lacked), he made his way to the outdoor common area. The rain was coming down lightly, but consistently, so Louis knew it was likely that he wouldn't be bothered outside, so he quickly rounded the corner and made the three second dash to a small covered area where he liked to eat. It was far enough off from the courtyard that it wasn't often used during good weather, let alone poor weather. He hadn’t noticed when he passed the table of jocks that one of them had noticed where he’d gone.

After sitting down, Louis picked up his slice of pizza and gave it a slight jolt to get the small amount of rainwater off of the top of the slice then took a bite. He sat there and ate quietly until he’d sated himself and then checked the time. There was still about ten minutes left in the lunch period and the rain had let up to a very light drizzle. He hoped no one would bother him, but he’d also often seen some students horsing around in the rain on similar days. Louis stuck his hands in his pocket and remembered the scrap of paper from his locker as his hand brushed past it.

Louis removed the scrap of paper and unfolded it, to read it's contents.

_’Niall has Ms. Pearce for Algebra. She grades homework at the end of the year for one big grade. He’ll never know if the answers are right or wrong until it’s too late._

_-374'_

Louis furrowed his brow and stared at the note. The handwriting was a little messy, but legible, so he definitely read the words correctly, but who left him this note? It was obviously one of the people from the group of guys yesterday, but none of them seemed to look apologetic at the time. There was the confused guy... That didn't seem to make a lot of sense, though. There was one way to find out, though.

**\-----**

The last bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Most of the students flooded out the front doors as they quickly tried to grab onto the remaining daylight hours to mingle with their friends. A few students lingered around the school for a bit including Louis.

Louis made his way around the back of the square of hallways of classrooms in search of the 300 block of lockers. Once he found them on the far side of the square from his last class, he waited. He kept looking down the hallway he occupied in case the guy came from that way, but continued to occasionally peek around the corner to monitor locker #374. He stood for a moment, waiting for someone to come down the long hallway towards the locker near the corner, but the school was now, for the most part, abandoned. He waited for about twenty minutes and then concluded that whoever owned the contents of the locker had left for the day. He turned and hobbled down the hallway not hiding the extent of his limp since the hallway was empty.

A few moments later, the boy with the emerald eyes exited the classroom of his last class. The teacher and other students had already left, but he’d returned to see if the smaller boy with the glasses would come or not. He wanted to know if the other boy would show, so when Louis showed up, Harry had realized he didn't know _why_ he wanted to know if the other boy would show up. He didn't know how to react either, so he stayed in the classroom until the boy left.

Harry watched the other boy round the corner of the hallway. His limp was much more pronounced now then it had been at lunch... Seeing Louis’ limp made the pit in Harry’s stomach turn over again. He’d been really bothered by the whole situation before, but now seeing him limp away after waiting for so long made it even worse.

"Snap out of it! Jeeze..." He shook his head as if to shake out the weird feelings. He then made his way to his locker, put his backpack away inside, and rounded the opposite corner of the hallway to take another route towards the school’s exit.

**\-----**

The next morning, Harry sleepily tried to enter the combination to the combination lock on his locker. He made sure to show up a little late that day just in case Louis tried to come early and catch him at his locker, but he was still extremely sleepy and still extremely annoyed that it was Friday and the day was just beginning.

Once he finally got the combination lock to grant him access to his own thins, he noticed a folded piece of paper sitting on top of his backpack. He reached in and opened the paper and scanned the words.

_’I think he’d kill me if he failed by surprise at the end of the year.’_

Harry laughed at the note. Niall would definitely flip shit if something like that happened. He also found it amusing that Niall was that easy to read. He quickly fished out a pen and wrote underneath the text on the paper:

_’Your probably right. Good call, too. I don't want my advice to start something like Wednesday again._

_-374_

_P.S. how’s your back?’_

He folded the note back up and made his way to class. On the way, he stopped by locker #262 and slid the paper through the slats, then continued down the hall to his first class.

After first period was over, Louis stopped by his locker to grab the sociology textbook he’d left behind that morning. He found another piece of paper resting on his stack of books. He opened the note and read it to himself. The concern at the end of his note was strange. He pulled a pen out his pocket and began to write.

_’You’re a bad bully if you hurt someone then ask how they're feeling later._

_P.S. you’re = you are. Ex. You're probably right.’_

He lagged behind everyone else after the bell rang, then made his way to his second class, which was right by locker #374. He hesitated before he slipped the note inside as he passed the locker. He was definitely being a smart ass in the note, which kind of worried him since the owner if locker #374 knew who he was, but not vice versa. Though, for some reason, he felt that whoever it was might not be as bad as all the others...

Harry chuckled at the sass in the reply after second period, but he also felt bad about what Louis wrote. He took his time and added:

_'I’m a bad bully because I’m not a bully._

_The guys are great if you're on their good side. They're just kind if assholes sometimes._

_I’m sorry if your back is hurt. Hope it’s not too bad._

_-374_

_P.S. thanks for the correction. You’re pretty smart.’_

Harry made sure to write over the word you’re a few times so it was thicker than the other words around it. He followed the same pattern the two used so far this morning and slipped the note into #262 as the bell rang.

Louis revisited his locker after third period even though he had his book. He found himself curious to see the reply from the other guy. He was certain that this was not how friendships were usually formed, but he couldn't help but think, ’Maybe this is something close.’

After reading the note, he was quite certain it was the guy who had looked so confused after grabbing him. He seemed so bewildered when Louis flinched when he thought he was going to be hit that it must be him. He also found himself thinking this was more and more like friendship after reading the last line. 'Hope it's not too bad,’ Louis echoed in his head.

_'I can't really take your word for it about them. Except the asshole part._

_My back is fine._

_You don’t have to sign your locker number every time. I know where it came from._

_P.S. you’re welcome.’_

Louis wrote over the word you’re to bold it, as well.

After fourth period, Harry added:

_’I’m glad your back is okay. Maybe I can make it up to you._

_\- Harry_

_P.S. is that better?’_

After fifth period, it was lunch time. Louis made his way to his locker and read the note before he even bothered to put away his bag.

’Make it up to me?’ Louis tucked the note into his pocket and checked the hallway for the group of guys. After seeing the all clear, Louis made his way to the cafeteria for lunch.

Louis grabbed a slice of pizza and made his way to his usual spot. The drizzle kept most of the other students inside again, but after Louis rounded the corner he saw the curly-haired guy in his usual spot.

"Uh..." Louis raised an eyebrow as he felt his heart thump extra hard in his chest.

Harry gave the older boy a half-smile and handed Louis a napkin to clean the rain off the lenses of his glasses. "I figured that I could maybe make up for the other day by eating lunch with you."

"How’d you even know this is where I usually eat? And what about your friends?" Louis set his tray on the table cautiously and glanced around his usual refuge.

Harry noticed this behavior and found it particularly odd. Louis seemed like he was expecting a trap or something. "Don't worry, they're not gonna come out in this rain. Plus, I told them I had to do something. They don't usually ask a lot of questions -- if you saw their grades, you'd know that." This joke provoked a laugh from Louis. Harry felt much less pressure after seeing the other boy relax a little. He added, "I don't even know your name, 262."

"Louis," he said, as he wiped off the lenses with the napkin. "So, is this napkin supposed to be a metaphoric white flag or something?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Uh..."

When Louis put his glasses back on his face, he saw the look on Harry’s face and chuckled again because he was visibly confused and making a very strange face.

"What’s so funny, eh?" Harry scowled at the younger boy.

"Nothing, nothing," Louis said as he fixed his fringe which had fallen across his glasses lenses in his laughter, "You were just pulling a pretty funny face."

"Hey, hey, you don't get to tease while I'm trying to make up for Niall being a dick." Harry sat down across from Louis’ pizza. "I don't have to eat lunch with you, ya know. I could just go --"

"Please don't," Louis quickly interjected.

Harry looked at the other boy and saw what almost looked like panic on his face. He realized that the other guy at lunch by himself almost every day, but he didn't realize quite how bad off this guy actually was. "I was just kidding. That wouldn't be a very good make up, eh?" Harry smiled at him to try to lighten the air.

Louis sighed, as if pouring out a breath of pure tension. He eased up and moved to sit down at the table. As the back of the chair grazed his back, Louis winced.

"Are you okay, Louis?"

’Shit,’ Louis swore mentally. He hoped Harry wouldn't notice. He just smiled and nodded at Harry.

Harry frowned. He knew that Louis’ back was worse than Louis portrayed it to be. He avoided the subject though, since it seemed like Louis wanted to avoid it as well. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a protein bar which evoked a scoff from Louis.

"What?"

"Typical jock shit," Louis mumbled as he shrugged.

"It’s filling and it's good for you, don't give me that!" Harry frowned at Louis. Harry thought he’d always been different from the rest of the guys on the soccer team.

"And," Louis feigned a slightly excited tone to his voice with the first word, then added neutrally, "... it’s typical jock shit." He continued to pick at his slice of pizza.

"What’s your deal?" Harry tried to avoid sounding annoyed, but he suspected that there might be a reason behind Louis’ loner lunch routine. "If you're this hostile to everyone then you’ll be eating alone every day."

"Sorry..." Louis sighed and mentally kicked himself. He’d finally found a shot at making a friend, but found himself instinctively resistant.

N-no, no," Harry added after he realized he had hit a nerve, "Don't apologize, it's fine. I'm the one trying to make something up to you, so it would be pretty goofy for you to be apologizing to me." Harry recognized the look on Louis’ face. The look was the same as two days before when he watched Louis hobble to his locker. It was the same look which made Harry want to reach out to the boy.

Louis sighed and continued to eat. He thought the situation at hand was becoming increasingly awkward with every additional comment and that he was being foolish if he seriously thought his first friend would be a jock.

"Besides," Harry added, "I’m not just some typical jock."

"How so?" Louis looked up at the guy sitting across from him.

"You’ll just have to get to know me and find out." Harry smirked at Louis and took another bite out of his protein bar. "Like these protein bars? Everyone else thinks that they taste like dick, but they eat them because they're good for you. I actually like the way they taste, though. I think they're really good." Harry took another bite and chewed the tough ingredients of the protein bar merrily.

Louis laughed at Harry and then just smiled. He beamed across the table at the thought of finally having found someone who wanted to be his friend at this school.

The bell sounded across the courtyard, indicating that the lunch period was over, so the boys quickly headed back inside to their sixth class of the day.

While Louis was in class, he pulled the note from his locker out of his pocket and added some more text on the backside of the paper.

_'Thank you._

_Are we friends now or something?'_

When Harry read these words, he smiled. The words sounded sassy in his mind as he read them. He felt like he was doing a good thing, but that wasn't all. He wanted to make up for the events from earlier in the week, but as he talked more to Louis through the notes, he started to really want to be friends with him.

_'Friends hang out with each other outside school, so we will be then._

_You free this weekend?'_

Louis felt a pang in his chest as he read these words. His glasses needed to be checked, surely. Someone wanted to be friends with him and wanted to see him outside school, too? Louis' grip on the edges of the paper tightened. He tried to contain some of his excitement since he was in a crowded hallway, but found himself writing on the paper very quickly.

_'I'm free every weekend. I don't really get out much since I don't know what's here. New city, new school, no friends, you do the math._

_Unless you're as good at math as you are English so far._

_Kidding, of course.'_

Louis wanted to slip the note into the other boy's locker, but then realized they only had one class left before the weekend, so he added his phone number to the bottom of the note.

**\-----**

Louis sighed as he mashed away some button on his Xbox controller. He waited after school was over and lingered around to see if he could catch Harry, but decided that it was not a good idea to hang around too long in case he showed up with the rest of his friends. He also didn't receive a reply on the note after the last class of the day. He paused his game and checked his cell phone. The phone sat quietly, no new text messages, no missed calls.

'Maybe I'm getting my hopes up,' Louis thought to himself, 'It's not like he doesn't have other friends, but he asked, so he should call, right?'

"Boo!" A voice rang out from downstairs and he heard the familiar clack of heels against the kitchen tile. "Come help me with the groceries!" His mother placed some bags on the kitchen counter. She kicked her heels off and swapped to her slippers by the entrance to the garage and continued to unload groceries.

"Coming, ma!" Louis switched off his Xbox and opened up some of the books that had been sitting on his desk and turned on the lamp that rested on the shelf above the desk. He then bounded down the stairs and made his way to the kitchen. He smiled widely as he entered the garage after meeting his mothers eyes and said, "Guess what?"

"You look excited, what's the news?" She noticed an unfamiliar look on Louis' face -- it was excitement. The last time she saw that look was long before they moved to transfer him to a new school. Since the move, Louis spent most of his time in his room where he played games and studied. 

"I made a friend today. First one since the move, ya know." He grabbed a couple of the bags and followed his mother inside. 

"Really, Lou! That's great, honey. Tell me all about it, who is he -- or she? How'd you two end up becoming friends?" His mother raised an eyebrow jokingly when she added the "or she" to tease her son. She enjoyed poking around with him a bit because it usually encouraged a laugh, which she believed Louis strongly needed in his life lately.

"Well, it's a he, ma. And actually..." He paused. He hesitated as he tried to formulate a lie to tell his mother about their friendship. He wanted to avoid the subject of being bullied, so he pieced together a half-truth. "Well, I usually eat in a covered area off the side of the courtyard. Not many people go over there and I ate there today and he just happened to decide to eat there, too. So we chatted and got on pretty well."

"Well that's great honey!" She smiled at her son and gave him a small hug, but then she pulled away and made a face. "Wasn't it raining today, though?"

"N-not at lunch time, it didn't really pick up by the school until later in the day." Louis made a note that he needed to gather up his clothes from school and let them dry in his room some before he left them in the hamper for his mother to find.

"Oh, well alright." His mother entered the garage and closed the trunk of her car, then closed the door to the garage behind her. She had been near the school running errands around Louis' lunchtime, so she knew that he was trying to bend the truth. It hurt her to know that her son was eating lunch outside in the rain. 'At least he wasn't eating alone,' she thought.

"Yeah, and he asked if I were free this weekend, so that's pretty neat!" Louis beamed at his mother as he recapped the positive parts of the events of the day.

"So, you're going to go out and be a social butterfly this weekend, eh?" His mother smiled at him and nudged his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure where to even go around here, though, so I guess that'll be up to --" Louis' phone interrupted him with a resounding chime sound from his pocket. He quickly fumbled with his pocket to get his phone out to see what the message said. He wrinkled his brow at the content of the message.

"That your friend?"

"Yeah, it's just an odd message," Louis said. He read the message aloud to this mother, which consisted of an address, a time. Harry also told him to make sure to bring a couple of quarters and at least $10. 

"What's 374 mean?" His mother asked, as she glanced at the screen of Louis' phone.

"Oh, that's just his locker number. It's an inside joke, I suppose." Louis smirked at Harry signing the message with his locker number like he had on the note. "So I guess at 10 am tomorrow, I'm suppose to meet him here. I wonder what's at that address." 

"You could just look it up online," his mother suggested, "I'm going to start dinner, though, okay? I'll call you when it's ready." She moved to the groceries and began to put some away and some by the stove.

"Yeah, but I think it's supposed to be a surprise, otherwise he would have just told me, so I won't do that. And okay!" Louis stifled his curiosity and his smile as he made his way back up to his room. Once he entered his room, he plopped down onto his bed and screamed into his pillow. The whole situation seemed so surreal to Louis that it was almost impossible to accept it as reality. He tried to turn his attention back to his Xbox, but he found trouble when he tried to focus. He wanted to just eat dinner, go to sleep, and wake up tomorrow! He wanted to see Harry.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The very short zoo scene the anon's original prompt requested (which I omitted so I could have the surprise).

Louis pulled his car into the parking lot of the address his GPS had lead him to and found himself in the parking lot of a zoo. He checked himself in his rear view mirror before turning his car off. He chose a dark grey knit beanie to wear with his glasses and a Rolling Stones t-shirt accompanied by black skinny jeans and converse tennis shoes. He situated the section of fringe that poked through the bottom of his beanie then climbed out of his car. He immediately wished he would have brought a jacket with him when a cold gust of wind swept past him. It made his skin rise into goose bumps which settled when the wind does down. It was comfortable when the wind remained stagnant, but very gust affected him similarly. The late winter weather was a little unpredictable, but the sun shining through the clear skies helped warm Louis up again during the windless periods.

He approached the ticket booth attached to the front gate and waited near the counter. He looked around the courtyard which surrounded the entryway, but did not spot the familiar chocolate curls he expected. He checked the time: 10:07 AM. He arrived a little later than their scheduled meeting time, but wanted to make sure not to show up early. He wanted to seem as casual as he could -- like the idea of a friend did not shatter the sound barrier in his mind by causing his excitement level to skyrocket so high, so quickly that he feared it would burst out of his own body. He slid his finger across the glossy iPhone screen and opened the contact for Harry and pressed "call." He waited a moment as the device established a line, then rang. As the ring back tone sounded in his ear, a ring tone from nearby echoed in cadence. Louis nearly jumped as he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

Harry stood there holding his phone. He answered the call as Louis turned around and said into the receiver, "Sorry, can't talk, I'm a bit busy." He laughed as he heard his own voice echo into Louis' ear from the line. The older boy rolled his eyes, ended the call, and pocketed his phone.

"Well, the good news is that the plaque says that kids twelve and under get in free," Louis raised an eyebrow and tilted his head simultaneously.

"If you think that's an insult then the joke's on you, because I usually get nine or ten, so twelve is quite the compliment on my journey into adulthood!" Harry winked and laughed as he walked past Louis and approached the ticket booth. As Harry walked past him, Louis took the opportunity to give Harry the once over. He admired Harry's physique in his current outfit, because it was more form-fitting than the boy's bulky letterman jacket. He wore a white, deep v-neck shirt and the skinniest black jeans Louis had possibly ever seen and a pair of lace-up brown boots. His only accessory was an assortment of thing bracelets on his right wrist. He could see every curve of every muscle in Harry's legs and thighs along with some of the muscles in his back. Harry definitely fit into the fit category.

"Yeah, I guess it would be better to only be four years behind instead of six or seven." Louis followed him up to the ticket booth.

"Well, not all of us can be ahead -- unlike certain other overachievers in line, but I won't name names." Harry chose not to name due to the two of them being the only people in line. His joke was greeted by momentary laughter from Louis which ceased abruptly after two seconds and was followed by a scowl. Harry rolled his eyes and chuckled as he purchased his ticket for entry to the zoo.

"Why the zoo, anyways?" Louis followed suit and purchased his ticket with the $20 he had brought with him. He took the $14 of change back from the window teller and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

"It's actually one of my favorite places in the city, believe it or not." The two boys entered the gate through the small turnstiles where an old man with a security guard outfit was half asleep. "It's also clearly extremely well-guarded. No need to worry about any of your favorite animals disappearing." 

Louis chucked and rolled his eyes. The two approached the large map monument which rested in the inner courtyard beyond the zoo gates. It was a large stone monument with a bronze plate across the front of it which had been shaped to mirror the ebb and flow of the zoo's trail of sidewalks. The zoo effectively made a figure eight across the land with a lower, marshland type of exhibit on the lower road and a housed in area which crossed over at the intersection of the eight. There were also a few small tributaries branching off from the original shape which led to a few additional exhibits which had clearly been added on after the fact. 

"Which way down the path should we go?" Harry turned to Louis and gave him a half smile which indicated that he was fine with whatever Louis' decision. Louis decided that they would head down the path towards the mammals of the zoo. The two set off down the path walking in cadence with one another.

"So," Louis began, "uh." His sentence ended as he realized he did not have a direction in mind to steer the conversation toward. Harry looked at him expectantly, but Louis remained silent with his jaw partly agape caught in mid-thought. He wanted to ask Harry what on earth made him want to hang out with Louis, but found himself lost for a more tactful approach to the subject, so he closed his mouth and looked down at the concrete trail.

"Because I wanted to." He understood Louis' situation to a degree: in his younger years, he struggled to socialize with other kids his age for various juvenile reasons that children chose to avoid being friends with someone. He only truly came into his own once he began to pursue sports in school versus at home in his free time. As with most situations in life, once someone with talent displays that talent in public, they tend to be placed above those who sit quietly on the sidelines. Harry found himself being approached by other soccer players, then the friends of the other players, and eventually he found himself in the center of the largest social hub of the school. Louis still avoided Harry's gaze, so Harry lightly bumped Louis with his shoulder which caused the older boy to step hard to the right. Louis overcompensated as he lost his balance and stomped hard with his left foot as it crossed over his right. A jolt shot up Louis' back. He inhaled sharply through his teeth, winced, and placed a hand on his back.

Harry reflexively reached out to catch Louis thinking the other boy was going to fall. He helped Louis regain his footing and apologized profusely for causing another wave of back pain. Louis quickly brushed Harry's hands away from his body and insisted his back was fine and continued to walk. Louis neglected to mention what was not fine was his heart rate as the curled haired boy's hands made contact with his body. He felt an immediately warmth begin to spread across his cheeks and felt a lump form in his throat. Louis increased his pace and walked away of Harry for a few moments until he was able to reassemble his casual demeanor.

"Are you sure you're alright, Lou?" Harry furrowed his brow, caught up to Louis, and matched his pace. He felt guilty that he had assisted in causing a genuine injury to another person. He had seen Niall mock, tease, insult, threaten, intimidate, and a surprisingly lost list of other things, but he never witnessed Niall actually cause a lasting injury to someone before. Sure, he may have knocked a few other people on the shoulders or over the side of the head with an notebook or something else equally as inconsequential, but Louis seemed to be genuinely injured. 

"Really, I'm fine, it'll go away after a day or two more." Louis continued to walk in silence until the two came around the main arch of the first leg of their journey into the first part of the zoo. The section was modeled to resemble wide, grassy plains similar to African terrains (if African terrains had large metal cages around them). The boys examined a few of the plaques of animals they did not recognize off-hand until they had reached the first small tributary off of the main path. Louis read the "Tigers This Way!" sign aloud and glanced at Harry before he turned and walked down the side path with an added speed to his walk.

"Tigers are one of my favorites." He entered a small tunnel which looped around the side of the caged tiger den. A large, thick piece of glass formed a barrier to the open expanse of grass. A sleeping lion had perched itself atop a large stone and was resting in the morning sun. Louis stood there for a moment watching as the large cat's chest rose up and down rhythmically with its breathing. "It must be nice."

Harry turned his gaze from the cat to Louis and saw a strange look in Louis' eye. He did not seem like he was admiring the cat, despite having mentioned it was one of his favorites. His eyes were squinted partially and his lips tugged into the slightest scowl, but Harry noticed. He recognized a strange kind of jealousy in Louis' gaze; the kind of jealousy bred from an unhappiness that was impossible to completely shake. He raised a hand, but paused. He stood there with his hand in mid-air unsure of what his next action was going to be. He furrowed his brow and jammed his hand back into his pocket.

The two boys continued to admire animals down the main path and some of its tributaries until they reached the apex of the figure eight. The pathway arched up and stopped at the entrance of a large building made of glass. Every so often, a wooden separator divided the glass walls into individual panes which wrapped up high into an arch. They approached the front of the transparent building and Louis read the sign aloud: Butterfly Sanctuary. Harry pulled the handle to the outer door and held it open for Louis, who thanked him, then followed him inside. The first room was a small antechamber, which led into another antechamber inside the door, which was sealed off with netting. 

As they entered the large greenhouse, the air became distinctly more humid, but the scenery more than compensated for the unpleasant atmosphere. Inside the building, butterflies large and small danced between the flora and mingled with the slight rainbows which the sunlight casted through the glass across the humid air. Louis stood near the entrance stunned. He watched as a large orange butterfly with a black-lining pattern wistfully fluttered past his face and onto a nearby shrub. 

"It's the only free-roam butterfly sanctuary that I know of," Harry said as he took a few steps forward into the spectrum of lights that cascaded in front of them. He turned to face Louis and smiled. Louis was convinced his heart stopped in the moment. He stared ahead as the sunlight broke apart through the glass and the air and split into a rainbow of colors across Harry's face. Reds moved across his forehead, oranges mingled with the hairs of his eyebrows, yellows and greens accented his emerald green eyes as blues and violets danced across his cheeks. Louis wanted to reach out and touch the boy's face. He wanted to just feel what it must be like to look that way in that moment. He stopped his arm as it rose in reflex to his thoughts. 

Harry turned and continued to walk slowly into the greenhouse as Louis followed along next to him, "I really admire butterflies, ya know? They spend the first parts of their lives being something weird and fuzzy, not really that nice to look at. Then, something happens. They get that urge, whatever it is that makes them do it, they build a cocoon, then after a little while of literal beauty sleep, they break out of the shell they made for themselves and they become this marvelous little thing -- so colorful and pretty." Harry looked around at all of the butterflies that drifted lazily through the air. Louis' eyes remained transfixed on Harry. The sanctuary fascinated him, but something about the curly-haired boy fascinated him even more. He had called him a bully and a typical jock, but reconsidered with every line Harry spoke. Harry turned to Louis and gave him a cheeky grin, "And they get a superpower, too. I mean, who doesn't want to fly, right?"

Louis snapped back into reality with Harry's comment and rolled his eyes, "You're real deep, Harry. Soul of a poet!" Louis made a claw shape with his hands with his fingers pointed upward in a faux thespian gesture. Harry shrugged it off and bumped his shoulder into Louis again, but this time much lighter than he had before. Louis noticed.

The boys continued their journey around the zoo languidly exploring different exhibits until they reached the back end of the final arch in the figure eight of their journey. Harry realized they were nearing the entrance of the zoo when he spotted the top of the large gate at the front of the park. He swore under his breath and checked the time on his phone and noticed that it was just past four in the afternoon.

"That's no good," Harry stated. When Louis raised a confused eyebrow, he explained that he had been planning on stopping by the northern most tributary off the main path of the zoo around lunch time to show Louis what Harry lavishly labeled as 'the best damn hot dog you'll ever eat.' Louis found the idea of a hot dog being so exquisite a little hard to believe, but Harry continued to insist that it was worth the high praise.

"I can't believe it's already been six hours," Louis said incredulously, "It does not feel like that at all." 

"It really doesn't. I'm still mad we managed to miss lunch, somehow. We should go grab a bite!" 

"What?" Louis' heart thumped. He was surprised enough when Harry wanted to actually hang out with him, but now he had asked if Louis wanted to have dinner with him. Louis immediately discarded the idea of their interaction being a date because he reasoned simply could not start to think that way about Harry. He concluded that would be an epic disaster. On the other hand, while Louis did not want to push his own line of thought further, he reasoned that it would be better for establishing a new friendship if he agreed since it was their first real friend day, after all.


	3. Part 3

Harry had insisted that the boys go for dinner a local restaurant called "The Saucer." Louis agreed without hesitation and drove behind Harry's car from the zoo as per Harry's directions. He assumed that it would be something, but definitely did not assume correctly. As he pulled his car into the loop in front of the restaurant, the complimentary valets ushered the two out of their vehicles and puttered away in the cars. Louis stood for a moment with his small green ticket receipt as he watched his car drive away, then turned to face the front of the building. The front of The Saucer was an exquisitely crafted archway with columns that Louis estimated to be at least twenty-five feet tall. Each side of the columns were accentuated by differently colored accent lightings which shone upward from the pebble garden which surrounded the bases. The facade of the building was crafted from stonework that made it look as if thin layers of stone had been stacked on top of one another to form a wall. Louis gazed at the building for a moment, then at the valet. His gut churned as he realized that Harry's estimation of money Louis should have brought had to be much less than what this place probably costed. 

"Hey, I know what you're thinking," Harry started, "Don't even worry about it, alright?" He nudged Louis lightly as he headed inside. Harry recognized the look on Louis' face because it was a look shared by anyone who experienced the restaurant for the first time. 

As the two approached the entrance, the front doors parted, held by two hosts. They approached the podium stationed by the entryway where a small man with a headset spoken in a hushed tone into his headpiece. The man's concentration remained unbroken until Harry leaned against the podium and cleared his throat. As the two spoke, Louis' gaze trailed across the entryway. The wall to the immediate left of the entrance -- literally the entire wall -- was an aquarium. Strangely shaped and colored fish drifted languidly through the tank. Each fish Louis spotted looked more exotic than the last. The opposing wall seemed like a normal granite wall until Louis noticed a gentle sheet of water cascading down its side. This wall served as a divider between the entrance and the first dining section, but Louis couldn't see over the top. He glanced further down the entryway and saw multiple hallways which snaked off the mainly course way and assumed they each led to separate dining areas as well. At the end of the hallway was a staircase which spiraled around the outer wall of the cylindrically shaped room. The room was clearly off-limits, Louis figured, when he noticed the red rope cordoning off the area. 

"Of course, of course!" The little man grinned at Harry with his hands clapped together, "Follow me, you two." The host stepped out from behind the podium and briskly made his way toward the roped-off area with Harry in tow. Louis stood for a moment, confused, until  
Harry turned and motioned for Louis to follow. The host took them past the red ropes and up two stories on the stairwell until the reached another smaller archway which led onto a patio on the third floor. The man looped around to the other side of the outer deck and took the two up another roped-off set of stairs until they'd reached a door labeled "Evening Observation Deck." The doorway opened to another stairwell, but this one was lined with a fine white carpet. The host led the boys up to the top of the stairwell, which had no door, but simply opened up into a room which had windows for walls and was sparsely decorated aside from small marble bars, which had been hollowed out on top to accommodate rock gardens, small fountains, and the occasional bonsai tree. Louis found the whole image very zen as he took his seat at the glass-top table in the center of the room. Over the marble bars, which shaped the room, the entirety of the city stretched across Louis' view as the setting sun glared harshly into the room. 

"Don't worry, the sun's about to go down, so the glare won't be so bad in just a few moments. Enjoy, please." The host excused himself, his brisk footsteps padding down the stairwell and out the door on the lower level. 

"So, what do you think?" Harry was grinning at Louis across the table.

"What do I think..." Louis repeated numbly. He turned his gaze to Harry and furrowed his brow, "What the FUCK, Harry?!" Louis looked back and forth with his jaw slack, his hands out -- dumbfounded. He searched for a place to start with his complaints, but found himself utterly speechless. He appreciated the splendor and beauty of the restaurant, but he did not understand what in Harry's mind made this a remotely good idea. 

"Okay, okay, let me see if I can just answer everything for you, since this isn't the first time this has happened," Harry began, "First of all, don't worry about the tab at all, because my family owns this restaurant, so the tab's on the house. To answer the follow-up for that question, no my family isn't rich, but my family is more well-off than probably most other people's families. Second, yes, you can see most of the city from here, and yes it gets much better when the sun goes down." Harry scowled a bit as Louis seemed like he was still in shock about the whole situation.

"So, you do this to everyone, then? Shock all your friends so often you know what the typical questions are going to be?" Louis continued to look through the window walls as he spoke. He found it hard to believe that Harry's family just happened to own this restaurant which seemed to be nothing less than a gift from some kind of higher power, but he had just gotten them through two red ropes with seemingly no questions asked, so he obviously was connected to the place in some way. 

"Well, I've taken a few girls here before, that's usually what they ask. Generally all the same things, ya know." Harry shrugged casually as he admired the view some himself. He stopped his sight-seeing when his gaze flicked past Louis and he realized that the other boy was staring at him with flushed cheeks. He raised an eyebrow at Louis to question him. 

"Girls here, huh? Like... dates?" Louis tried to stifle the rumbling inside his mind when Harry explained this was a room meant to impress, but also one to which he typically took girls. When Harry nodded nonchalantly, Louis' stomach turned and his cheeks flushed a deeper red. "Why take me here, then?" Harry opened his mouth to reply, but paused when he struggled to find the words. 

"Actually," he said as he furrowed his brow a bit, thinking for a moment, then continued, "It was just what I wanted to do." Harry locked eye contact with Louis, which caused the older boy to turn his gaze away, but not before Harry noted how incredibly blue Louis' eyes looked in the evening sun. 

“You know, it's not like my back got hurt that badly, Harry,” Louis said, keeping his gaze away from Harry's, “You've sufficiently apologized for the actions of your friends. This is a little bit extravagant for an apology for something that wasn't really that big of a deal.” Louis scowled as he examined the skyline again. The view was truly amazing, but he was beginning to feel like Harry was treating him like he was some kind of charity case that needed to be shown the finer things in life. The feeling overwhelmed Louis. On one hand, he wanted to spend time with Harry, but he did not want to be at this lavish restaurant that was usually reserved for dates if it was just out of pity. 

“It's not like that,” Harry stated simply. His tone captured Louis' wandering gaze. It was a serious tone, which did not help the pit that was growing in either of their stomachs. Harry genuinely did not know exactly what he was doing, but he wanted to impress Louis, so when his gut urged him to take Louis to the family restaurant, he complied with the feeling.

“Then what is it like, because I'm really confused by all of this,” Louis said, gesturing towards the lights of the skyline. The sun had tucked itself behind the horizon and the lights across the town had started to glow dimly in the distance, which created the illusion that the two were sitting in a room surrounded by a sea of stars, “It just... it seems like a lot is all.” Louis turned his gaze back down to the table and tried to suppress the blush he could feel kindling in his cheeks.

“It's...” Harry paused for a moment with his mouth open as he searched for the words, but he was interrupted by the sound of a slamming door at the bottom of the staircase.

Two waiters ascended the stairs, each carrying a small serving tray. The first placed a pitcher of water on the table which had a small green plant inside of it and several lemon wheels floating about in it. She explained (for Louis' sake) that it was a lemon-peppermint water and asked if they had any alternative preference in lieu of the water, which both boys declined. The second waiter removed two individual plates from his tray and placed them in front of the boys, then placed a bowl of salad, a basket of warm breadsticks, and two small cups of soup between the boys. He explained (again, for Louis' sake) that they could help themselves and anything they did not want would be removed before their main course arrived, which confused Louis since he had not even seen a menu yet. Then, the two waiters departed quietly.

Harry reached out and took one of the bowls of soup and a breadstick and placed them on his plate. He tonged a small helping of the salad onto his plate. Louis followed suit and then sighed as he looked at his already full appetizer plate. Louis looked across the table at Harry, but the younger boy was making an effort of avoiding Louis' gaze, so he resigned himself to sampling some of the appetizers the staff had brought them. He tore an edge off of the breadstick and popped it in his mouth. Louis promptly released a small groan, “Shit.”

“No good?” Harry's concerned look prompted Louis to shake his hand at him from across the table, then nodded vigorously to indicate how good the breadstick tasted. Louis continued to sample the soup, which turned out to be a miso soup and equally as mind-blowing as the breadstick, and the salad was the least appealing of the three appetizers, but still at an extremely high-caliber with the restaurant's homemade vinaigrette dressing. Louis forgot how hungry he was until he actually started eating and found it hard to maintain acceptable etiquette because of how incredible the first course tasted. He helped himself to another breadstick and another small portion of the salad.

“Harry,” Louis said when he finally caught his breath, “This is really delicious, seriously. I've never been this impressed just by soup and salad and bread before, but wow.” Harry chuckled at Louis as he dabbed at the corners of his mouth, but missed a speck of salad dressing at the corner of his mouth. Harry pointed at his own face to indicate that Louis missed a spot, which Louis dabbed at, but missed. Harry shook his head, still chewing, as Louis asked for confirmation that he had gotten the spot, but missed a second and third time. Harry shook his head and gestured for Louis to lean forward across the table, which he did reluctantly. Harry took his own napkin and lightly dabbed at the spot on Louis' cheek. He felt the warmth of Louis' blush with the edge of his thumb. Louis had really soft skin. And really nice cheek bones. And really warm cheeks. Then, Harry realized that he had definitely already gotten the spot and had definitely been absent-mindedly running his thumb down the side of Louis' cheek. He quickly withdrew his hand and shifted his focus back to the food on his plate, which he began to shuffle about with his fork. Louis lingered over the center of the table for a moment as he tried to figure out if there were hallucinogenic drugs in the food or if Harry had actually just stroked his cheek.

“U-um...” Louis leaned back to his seat slowly and then opened his mouth to return to his original line of questioning from before they were interrupted, “So what is --” A slamming door cut him off as another duo of waiters ascended the stairs.

The second duo of waiters came bearing a fondue pot which they set up on a portable induction heater in the center of the table after removing the excess dishes and food from the first course. They placed the pot onto the heater which allowed Louis to see the broth-like contents, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. The liquid in the pot began to rumbling in a low boil and they waiters placed two trays in front of each of them. Each tray had an assortment of meats, vegetables, and seafoods on them, all of which were definitely raw. The waiters chopped a few seasoning vegetables on a cutting board on one of the second trays, which they had propped on a folding rack they had brought with them. They placed a small amount of green onions, cilantro, and a few other things Louis did not recognize off-hand into the pot, handed each boy a set of fondue forks, and promptly departed the room. Louis sat and stared at the tray of raw meats in front of him quietly.

“Here, like this, watch.” Harry took one of his fondue forks and skewered a shrimp with in, then placed it into the boiling broth in the fondue pot. He then pointed to each of the meats and named them, since these waiters had not explained for Louis this time. Louis skewered a couple of the pieces of meat and placed them in the pot and then looked across the table at Harry for confirmation. Harry met him with a slight nod, then after a few more moments, pulled the shrimp he had skewered out of the pot and held it out on the end of the fork for Louis to try. Louis took the fork from Harry and took a modest bite out of the shrimp, then stuck the entire piece in his mouth. The sea of flavors from the broth had cooked into the morsel and Louis' was absolutely certain that he could hear a small chorus of angels somewhere in the distance.

“That has to be the single most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my life period,” Louis said, dabbing his mouth with his napkin. He found it hard to believe that his family owned this restaurant and figured it must be nice to be able to have this kind of meal on whim like they were currently. He immediately wanted to try more of the meats, so he removed his own skewers and sampled more, each bite just as heavenly as the one before. 

The two continued to eat in silence for a bit, until they found themselves running out of morsels on their trays. Once Louis had finished his tray, he remembered that he had gotten cut off from their conversation and became determined to get his question out.

“What is it like?” The words fell out of Louis' mouth before he had time to assemble a more proper way of asking that question. He looked across the table at Harry as he swallowed his last bite.

“What is what like?” Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he stalled for time to figure out how to answer Louis' question without sounding strange.

“This dinner thing. This friend day thing. The whole thing.” As Louis continued, he could feel a hint of adrenaline building up in his system which caused his pulse to race. “It just seems like a dream or something. I mean, yeah, what happened was shitty and it makes me glad that not everyone in the world is a dick like your friends, but why eat with me, why invite me to the zoo, why take me to this incredible restaurant that you apparently usually take girls to?” Louis swallowed in an attempt to make the growing lump in his throat go away.

“Well...” Harry turned his head and gazed out over the town. The sun had completely submerged itself beyond the horizon and now the ocean of lights shone brightly across the city in all directions. The room was dimly illuminated from above, but the majority of the light coming through was from nearby buildings and the lights of the city pouring across the night sky. The room had been constructed damn perfectly, Harry thought, because the lighting was set for the perfect ambiance for a romantic dinner for two without being too dim or too bright for a mostly uncontrolled environment. The fountains in the room trickled quietly, as Harry spoke: “I guess it's a date.” He turned his gaze back to Louis, a neutral expression on his face.

“You guess... date?” Louis swore he could feel his own skin squirming independently from the rest of his body. The tingling sensation overwhelmed his limbs and he felt paralyzed by the statement. He stopped to take a mental inventory of the course of events from the past week. Not only had Louis met someone that wanted to talk to him, that person was an attractive jock on the soccer team, that person went out of his way to be Louis' friend, invited Louis to go to the zoo, took Louis to the restaurant his family owns, and then just plainly stated that he guessed he was on a date with Louis. Louis wanted to pinch himself, check his own pulse – anything to confirm that he was not, in fact, just dead. 

Harry just sat there. He spoke the words before he had even realized that he had spoken. It was not entirely unexpected, but Louis' straight-forwardness just evoked a direct response from Harry.

“What do you mean you guess?” Louis' voice cracked on the last word of his sentence, which just increased his anxiety due to his anxiety being obvious.

“Well, I don't, uh...” Harry paused as a duo of waiters entered the room to clean up the finished dinnerware. This gave Harry a little extra time to gather his thoughts. He turned his gaze back out to the city lights, some of which were starting to flick off in the distance as the time became later. As the waiters exited with the plates, Harry cleared his throat and continued, “I can't really say I don't know, because I guess I do. What I mean is, I like you. I've really enjoyed the time we've spent together today and I enjoyed passing notes with you. I really liked passing notes. That day was so much fun. I kept on anticipating the note being in my locker after I'd dropped it off to you. I just like you.”

The plainness in Harry's statements did cause Louis' anxiety to spike, but it was that same plainness that made the whole situation not quite as stressful as it had seemed before. Louis spent a lot of time wondering over the past few days about what Harry's intentions with their friendship were, but he did not expect Harry to say it was just because he liked Louis. It was a lot easier to process than having to guess and wonder about everything, but Louis still did not understand how it was that easy for Harry to just plainly state what he was feeling without worrying about what may happen.

“So, it's a date then...” Louis thought aloud. He had definitely eaten something hallucinogenic in the food, he concluded. He sat there for a moment and looked around the skyline. He never expected any of this, but it still felt kind of nice that someone put forth an effort to bring him somewhere so fantastic (even if his family owned it) just to make him happy.

The door at the bottom of the stairway slammed again, but this time it was the host who climbed the stairs with a single small dish in his hands. He held the dish at level with his head so the sitting boys could not see what was on the plate, then spoke: “Well, Mr. Styles, as per your request, a special dessert for a special night.” He lowered the dish and placed it on the table, revealing a small cheesecake which had been shaped to resemble a heart. It was topped with a red glaze zig-zagged across the cake and plate and a small red candle, which the waiter leaned forward and lit at the table. He took a small bow and quickly exited the room. Louis looked at the cute dessert, then across the table at Harry, who was suppressing a smirk.

“A heart,” Louis stated, almost to confirm the lie his eyes told.

“They're usually circular here,” Harry said, wiping a trail of wax from one side of the candle, “But, I may or may not have called ahead before you got to the zoo and told them to make one shaped like a heart. Go on, blow it out.” Harry looked cautiously across the table at Louis who seemed to be overwhelmed by the past few minutes of conversation. He smiled when Louis met his eyes as he nervously leaned forward to blow out the candle. Louis wished that this night were real.

The two ate their dessert in silence, excluding Louis' initial groan at how delicious the dessert was from his first bite. The room was filled with the sound of the gentle trickle of the water in the fountains and the clink of the forks against the plate. After finishing the small dessert, the two rose from the table and Louis took another cursory glance across the skyline. He found it truly beautiful. As his eyes panned across the sky, Harry slid into his gaze and the curly-haired boy just smiled and opened his mouth for a moment, as if to say something, but then shut his mouth again.

“What?” He took a step toward the boy and his heart thumped as the gentle light from the town washed a golden hue over the other boy's face.

“I just...” Harry started to speak, but then closed his mouth. He raised a hand, but then lowered it back to his side. He closed his eyes for a short moment, then huffed. When he opened his eyes again, they focused on Louis' gaze. He reached forward, placed his hand on one of Louis' hips gently, and moved one foot forward. His gaze seemed to ask permission, which Louis' body granted Harry by leaning forward slightly further. Harry raised his other hand and cupped the side of Louis' neck, pulling the other boy closer until their lips met in a tender kiss.

Louis felt his pulse surge into overdrive as he felt the soft skin of Harry's lips against his. His arms instinctively wrapped around the boy's waist, pulling him in closer. He clung to the small of Harry's back as he felt Harry's lips begin to move. He exchanged several kisses with Harry while his brain screamed that he needed to find a hospital because he was going to have a heart attack before the night was over. When Harry began to pull away, not wanting to overstay his welcome on Louis' lips, Louis pulled him back for one last kiss which caused Harry's shoulders to go slack. 

“I didn't know if you – I wanted to do that before we got downstairs and I missed my chance,” Harry said as the edges of his now red lips curled up. “I really wanted to do that.”

“I did, too, Harry, I really did,” Louis said breathily.

The two descended the several sets of stairs to the valet, thanked the host who Harry tipped regardless of his parents owning the restaurant. They waited outside and huddled for warmth in the brisk air of the evening. When the valet had pulled both of their cars around, they both tipped the two individuals and then turned to face each other. Louis stared at Harry's emerald eyes, Harry stared at Louis' ocean blue eyes. 

“Thank you, Harry,” Louis said, scuffing one of his feet against the ground, “Dinner was fantastic. I had a good time today.”

Harry grinned as he opened the driver's door to his car, winked at Louis, and said, “So did I, Lou. Till next time, eh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked writing this story and I may serialize it later, but PuzzlingApproach and I are about to undertake a massive project, which you should get ready for. It's a brilliant story that we're going to pen together and I'm really excited to get it started. Be on the lookout for it in the future!


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